LAWSON, John William, a Representative from Virginia; born in James City County, Va., September 13,
1837; attended the schools of Williamsburg, College of William and Mary, and the University of
Virginia at Charlottesville; studied medicine; was graduated from the University of the City of New
York March 4, 1861; returned to Virginia, and during the Civil War enlisted in the Thirty-second
Regiment of Virginia Infantry, Confederate Army; assistant surgeon in charge of Artillery battalion;
promoted to surgeon March 10, 1864, and served until the surrender at Appomattox April 9, 1865;
settled in Isle of Wight County, Va., December 1865; practiced medicine for ten years, when he
engaged in agricultural pursuits; member of the State house of delegates 1869-1873; served in the
State senate 1874-1877; again a member of the State house of delegates in 1883 and 1884; elected
as a Democrat to the Fifty-second Congress (March 4, 1891-March 3, 1893); was not a candidate
for renomination in 1892; resumed farming; delegate to the State constitutional convention in 1901 and
1902; died in Smithfield, Va., on February 21, 1905; interment in Ivy Hill Cemetery.